


Boiling Rain

by CharmyWizard



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Fighting, Happy Ending, Horizon Zero Dawn AU, Protective Older Brothers, hzd au, slight blood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:21:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28651182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharmyWizard/pseuds/CharmyWizard
Summary: They were running out of time, MIkey was fighting a disease corrupting his body and Leo didn’t know when their brothers woudl be back with the antidote. All Leo knows is that he has to protect Mikey, no matter the cost
Relationships: Leonardo & Michelangelo (TMNT)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 24





	Boiling Rain

**Author's Note:**

> This was gift i made a year ago during a special even for my friend Dove based on their Horizon Zero Dawn AU

It was getting harder to breath.

Even though he had been expecting it, Leo still closed his hand over his chest. Though fur was doing its job of keeping the piercing cold out, it still felt alien to him to be wearing so much clothing after a lifetime under an unforgiving sun. But a few short weeks in the frozen wilds had left him starved for the desert heat he used to abhor. To be fair, he had enjoyed the snow at first. Had his first snow ball fight, used Raphael as a sled, and watched the snow fall from the sky with all the awe of a child.

It was the same cold he now cursed angrily, taking a jagged piece of log he had found and tossing it into the already dwindling fire. Though weak, the fire was doing its job of keeping the person lying by it warm. The makeshift shelter they had found, was a half-collapsed farmhouse that they had found in the midst of desperation. Leo let out another puff of misty air before turning to bundle shivering by the fire despite the blankets and furs Leo and wrapped him in. Mikey’s face barely tucks out giving him the appearance more resembling a worm then a turtle, his cheeks flushed with fever and brow drenched in sweat. “I know Micheal,” he said, shrugging off one of his furs and draping it over Mikey’s sleeping form. “Stay warm, Donatello and Raphael will be back soon.”

But would they?

Leo gritted his teeth at the little voice of doubt in his head. NO they were fine. Raph and Donatello would get to the Carja capital, they would find what they needed to create an antidote then they’d get back. The hunter took up the bowl he had made tea with, when something caught the corner of his eye in the reflection. Though it was barely noticeable the warm contents of the tea were obstructed by a shadow growing in the corner of his eye try into crawl across his vision like a hungry desperate spider. A normal person might have freaked out, justifiably, but the red slider sighed. Grateful for the vision he had left and that he was not as sick as Michelangelo, if the others had known that the same diseases that plagued Mikey was plaguing him as well, which made sense since he had been the one who pulled Mikey out of the gas trap, they might have been unwilling to leave them alone.

Mikey was the one who needed help.

Mikey was the one who deserved help.

He took the cloth from Mikey’s brow to rewet it when the remaining water in the bowl rippled. Leo snatched up his sword from where it lay and pressed his shell by the entrance of farmhouse peering out with the razor-sharp focus of a hunter. He could barely see the wires strewn between the trees marking where Donnie had set traps shortly before they left. The combination of the twisting snowfall, impenetrable night, and growing darkness of his left eye made it harder to spot anything immediately so he focused on the faint light coming from the wire strewn around like spider webs

Against the sparks of the wire traps, Leo could just make out the sheen of metal armor, his mind was already going through the machines he knew. It sounded like it whatever it was, was walking around on two legs, but too heavy to be a watcher-

The form shivered, a red light shivered in the darkness from between metal slabs of armor, swollen with two beady red eyes peering around on a thin neck, Leo’s gut twisted in dread as he bounced the back of his head against the wall in frustration before sliding down against the wall.

Fire bellowback.

Of course.

It lacked any signs of corruption which was just a hollow relief over the fact that even untampered with, bellowback were not to be trifled. How it had gotten so close without him noticing he could only blame on the corruption eating away at his body and his vision. 

Something touched his hand causing him to jump out of his skin before looking around to the small pale hand gripping his own. It almost amazed him that Mikey was giving him such a concerned look even dealing with his own fever. Gripping his hand as though both trying to offer him comfort and a desperate attempt to hold him back. His fevered begging with him

“Don’t!”

Leo offered Michelangelo a warm smile. Pulling his hand free and taking it in his for a moment, long enough to squeeze it. As though hoping to offer his youngest brother all the comfort he might never give him again in that one touch before tucking it back under his blanket. ”It’ll be ok Mikey,” he said, another earsplitting screech filled the air. Leo turned rising up to one knee before the action took his energy and sent him back to all fours. With a groan he stuck his sword into the ground and used it to heave himself up to his feet. The weight of his own life dwindling before the life of the one behind him. “Leo.” Mikey’s voice came again, his voice cracking as though too weak to support his voice, “Leo just st-ay here.”

“I can't. IF it gets too close it’ll sense the fire. And if we put the fire out.” He paused, his brother was already shivering under the weight of his blanket. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if he did that, “Just stay here, stay quiet. There’s enough wood to feed the fire if you get cold.”

Mikey’s blue eyes met his in a new wave of emotion, “Y-Leo.” He looked around frantically for a moment before his eyes fell on the bow and arrow Leo had placed by the fire, “T-take my bow with you. Please you know how to use it. You can use it to protect yourself.”  
  


Leo couldn’t help but smile at his brother's face. In another lifetime, he never thought he would have someone look at him with such genuine concern other than Hueso. With a trembling hand, he took the bow and the arrows, and walked over to Mikey’s side, placing them by his side where he could reach them if he needed to. Mikey’s blue eyes filled with anguish, “Leo- I-”

“Stay safe little brother.” He said, kneeling down and putting his fingertips over his eyelids and gently closing them. Extinguishing what little strength Mikey had left as he fell back into a fever sleep. Outside he could hear the pop of a wire disconnecting from the tree, warning him of the beast's presence. He took a moment to strip off his animal furs and drape them over Mikey's sleeping form. He knew better than anyone that he was going to need all his speed to have a chance at succeeding. His skin was already prickling at the icy air but he shoved it in the back of his mind.

For Mikey.

With a groan, he jabbed his sword into the ground, using it to drag himself to his feet. If someone had told him a year ago he would be so weak as to use his precious sword as a cane he would have laughed in their face. But here he was, hobbling like a man twice his age, shivering painfully with the loss of his animal furs.

Standing just feet from him stood a large swollen bellowback, shuffling around swinging its diminutive head around. Normally ice blue eyes pierced with red, even in the cold of the north, the fire inside its metal shell boiled the air around it as it set its sights on him.

Leo couldn’t help but feel grateful that it wasn’t a daemonic machine. But as his corruption-fatigued arms lifted his sword again, taking a deep breath and letting the cold air pierce his lungs, he growled out between his frost lined teeth.

“Stay away from my brother.”

The firebellow charged at him, Leonardo leapt off to the side in a roll before popping back up, twisting and bringing his sword down hard on the beast’s side. Sparks erupted from the impact but before Leonardo could take any satisfaction, its head swung around and caught him in the head, sending him hard against the tree behind him and filling his already dark vision with lights. For a moment he thought he had gotten snow on his scalp before a dull headache told him what it really was.

The twisting shout of the bellowback reached him again, unable to move he brought up his sword in time to shield himself from the bellowback’s charge. The force sent him back against the tree pinning him against it the rough bark tearing through his thin shirt and digging into the back of his shell. He reached for one of his spare knives when he met the gaze of the bellow back again, its red gaze shimmering but it was only after the beast began to hiss that Leo realized what was going on. Red appeared in the creases of the beast’s armor and fire poured free, the heat felt as though it was boiling his skin. He brought up his foot on the dull side of his sword to offer some release from the pressure of the bellowbacks body. Slicing out the part of the bellowback and pushed away despite the screams of his failing body. With barely breathing space he rolled out of the way, behind him the bellowback tore into the tree he had been pinned too. With little to no grace he rolled away and fell flat on his chest. The boiling water that had been snow burning his raw skin. Leonardo blinked a few times to clear up the darkness in the corner of his eye when the darkness began to twist, desperate to crawl in front of the rest of his left eye did he realize that it he corruption that had been trying to steal his body was trying to forfeit his vision. He cursed between his gritted teeth before looking around for his sword, before he found it underneath the bellowback’s foot, its grand golden form warping and twisting under the heat of the bellowback’s fire.

For a moment, a moment he knew he didn’t have, he froze in horror.

_*”Did you hear what happened to Groya?” A nameless lodges-men had asked him, a nasty sneer on his face that had been more then reason to keep him from remembering him. But Leo had, some manners, leaning back in his seat with a glass in his hands, “Let me guess. He took down a watcher and won’t stop talking about it?”_

_“No, he got in over his head with a thunderhead, they found his body this morning in the wilds.”_

_Leonardo had been bringing his blissfully cold drink to his lips when he paused, his fingers tightened around the glass ever so slightly, but let out a loud sigh, “Sounds like him. He’ll be missed.”_

_A hand clasped him hard on the shoulder, another grin in his direction from someone who really overestimated how close they were, “That’s why I prefer your company Leonardo, you understand how cruel the world is but you don’t let it make you a hissy mess.” With that the lodges-men walked away. Unknowing that in few short days he himself would be taken down by a herd of watchers. And just like then, and now, Leonardo would bring his drink to his lips, think about the loss of another life in a cruel world, and take a sip in their honor._

_Trampled by lancehorn._

_Blown to pieces by a shell-walker._

_Eaten alive by a sawtooth._

_Living in a cruel world Leonardo always expected to have a cruel end, feared it. Hid it behind a few jokes and laughs. His memories full of people who had met deaths that haunted his nightmares. People he had kept at arm's length to keep from feeling their loss._

_It hadn’t worked._

_His memories were full of ghosts._

Loss was a part of life.

For a moment the sudden fog around his head confused him till it was coming out from his tight gritting lips. He looked around for a moment until he saw a long chunk of metal that had come from the bellowback during its first strike. He reached for it, pausing as a spasm of pain shot up his shell, before pulling the sharp metal closer. Tearing off the remainder of his shirt and wrapping it around the base in a makeshift hilt. He plunged his half-formed blade into the ground, using it as support in the face of his pain. It was when he put his weight on his left leg and it nearly folded beneath him that he realized what price he had paid to get away from the billow back the first time.

He allowed himself another painful breath, shifting his right foot forward and his compromised left leg behind him, bringing the sword up to his side. The bellowback watching him with narrow eyes, though its right side was sparking dangerously, it was obvious who had received the most amount of damage. Every breath hurt as though someone had jabbed his collar bone with a knife and refused to pull it out, with another painful breath, he breathed out into an unforgiving cold world, “You. Can’t. Have. Him.”

The bellowback screamed at him, thrashing around stupidly before running at him.

Leo screamed into the cold unforgiving world. His blood began to burn as though the sun itself was blessing his unholy wrath, with a body screaming in protest he charged forward, what little vision he had left would be filled with the charging beast, tearing him apart in a violent cruel end he somehow knew he was destined to have. The snow that had been pounding into him suddenly seemed to pause, as though even it wanted to see how he would meet his end

But it didn’t matter

So long as _he_ lived-

Another louder shriek filled the air, but before Leo could curse the sun for his misfortune of another beast, the sun disappeared from the sky and a large form suddenly crashed on top of the beasts crushing its form with a loud shriek before the storm bird was crushed from the impact. Leo jabbed his sword into the ground to keep from running into the carnage and could only blink stupidly before he saw two forms stirring from the wreckage blissfully familiar forms that had lost their details to his fading vision but he would know from anywhere. He wanted to say something, anything. Something sarcastic say what took you so long, say nice landing. But his body would no longer be denied its rest. With a shaky breath his body caved in, ready to meet the cold earth only to be caught by the giant warm arms of someone he knew.

It was only then he gave himself willingly to the darkness

_(#)(#)\/(#)(#)_

When Leo had first travelled to the frozen wilds with his brothers and first experienced the bitter cold, he had been sure he would never know warmth agin. So when consciousness began to return to him, and he no longer felt the bite of winter he found himself sure he had died. Until a finger pulled back his eyelid and dropped a liquid into it, filling his once black vision with enough pain to make him squawk, “OW!” He went to rub at it only to find his arm pinned to his side, with his free one trapped under what felt like a dozen thick animal skins.

“About time you woke up.”

Because he had just been asleep, Leonardo could only blink in confusion for a moment before recognizing the voice was talking to him. He blinked rapidly to clear up his vision before looking toward his side where Donatello was holding a metal ball with a tube at the end, shaking around the pink contents. Raph was crouched in the middle of the shelter they had assembled in then middle Of the house. A part of him craved the smell of whatever he was cooking but the front of his face was so badly swollen he was sure he wouldn’t be able to taste it anyway. For a moment he panicked before he realized that the last member of their little family was laying by his side. Having regained most of his color but not the pinched look in his eyes “Y-You’re ok.” Leonardo breathed out in relief before he could sigh a hand smacked him on the plastron causing him to yelp more in surprise then in pain as he looked at Donatello, “What did I do?!”

“What did you do?!” Donatello gave him an incredulous if not pissed look, “Oh see let me think about it, you lied to us about being sick, you almost got yourself killed fighting a bellow back, and oh yeah.” Dontelalo gave him another non-painful slap to his chest, ”You almost died idiot. If we had been a second longer the corruption would have killed you.”

Leo as too relieved to see Donatello to be hindered by his anger, allowing himself into a smirk, “Good thing you decided to fall out the sky like a freaking rock. A thunder hawk? Really? You couldn’t have picked something more dangerous?  
  


“Ha ha ha,” Donatello said without humor, “It was the fastest way to get back, because as we were rummaging through the Carja capital trying to find a more potent cure it occurred to me, ‘huh why was the idiot who spends forty two shards on eyeliner looking so pale.’ Oh yeah because he LIED to us.” This time when Donatello went to smack him, Leo twisted his hip out of the way despite his shells ache in protest, “OW! Someone stop him! He’s hurting an injured person! Isn’t that against a law?! One of our laws?!” Leo looked to the oldest for some sort of protection. But when their eyes met Leo’s smile slid off his face, his largest, softest brother’s eyes, normally a sort of comfort for him, were tinged red. His brow twisted up in a way that would have made Leo think he had never smiled a day in his life, “You stopped breathing man.” He said in a voice broken enough to make all the injuries Leo had obtained feel like nothing, “It took everything Don had to bring you back. We thought we had lost you.” His voice dropped to a near whisper, as though he was afraid that speaking it out loud would bring it to reality.

“I-,“ Leo looked to his brother, it was only then that he noticed Don’s furs had a faint pink tinge to the edges, as though he had been trying to scrub something out of them that wouldn’t go away. Something red, he looked at his blanket and wondered how many bandages Don had to wrap around him? “I-I’m-“

“You’re what!?” Donatello demanded standing up so suddenly it made Leo dizzy to look at him, “You’re sorry!? Is that all you have to say?! You think a simple apology makes up for the fact that you almost killed yourself because you-you refused to let us know you were as bad off as Michelangelo?! Sorry doesn’t cover how terrified I was when-when you-“ Donatello’s voice cracked as a tear escaped down the side of his face. Turning to him so suddenly Leo was sure he was actually going to hurt him this time when Raph was at Don’s side, turning him away but not fast enough for Leo to miss the sob that escaped the Oseram, now scrubbing furiously at his face as though he was trying to save it from a flesh eating parasite, “I hate you Leonardo.” The blacksmith said with no small amount of venom. But too much emotion for Leonardo to take to heart

“I-“ Leo blanked his hesitation on the fact he had only been awake for a few moments before this barrage of emotion fell on him. But it occurred to him that he wasn’t sure how long he had been out. They weren’t even in the same shelter they had been before, based on the fact he and Mikey were now lying on a soft bed and the building they were in now was much more put together. They had to have been there long enough to accumulate the impressive pile of firewood in the corner, and the new animal skins on the wall. Lots of food, and supplies...

How long had he been asleep?  
  


A week? More than a day, “I just,,” How bad how he scared them? Bad enough for Doantello to cry, to say he hated him, a wound that stung more than any injury he had ever had in the past, “M-Mikey needed you more. He needed help.” He offered as a weak explanation

“So did you.”

It was the first time Mikey had spoken, it lacked the spite and anger that Donatello’s had, but instead a soft pain, a betrayal that almost broke Leonardo altogether, “It's not the same.” He said through his teeth, desperate to keep his dignity, “Mikey is special. Every breath he takes, every step he takes changes the very nature of our world. The world needs him. The world doesn’t need me,“ he closed his eyes. He couldn’t bare the glares from the other anymore.

Something touched his hand under the blanket, nearly causing him to jump out of his skin before he recognized it as Mikey’s hand, his smaller one interlocked his and held it tightly. Only then did he allow himself to open his eyes and look at him meeting the others watery eyes spilling out of the corner of his eyes, “Who cares if the world needs you?” Mikey whispered imploringly, “ _We_ need you. I’ve lived without you in my life once, I don’t want to do that again.” His hand squeezed his with all that it was worth, “I can't do that again.”

Leo’s eyes blurred so quickly he was sure the corruption had returned for a second round, but then realized they were tears. He squeezed his eyes closed in an attempt to stop them only to have them break free. With them the damn he had closed off his emotions with broke open and soft sobs began to escape him. Overwhelming his broken healing body. Humiliation would have taken over, but a pair of hands, soft despite the calluses forged from building and inventing, held the side of his face, and a larger than life hand draped over his chest.

In time Leo would learn that his battle with the bellowback had left his shell-cracked, a broken collar bone, and a shattered leg. Without even counting the number of stitches he needed afterwards. Mikey would heal before him, and when he was strong enough, they would leave their base with him strapped to Raphael’s shell and leave for the Carja capital where hopefully they could find a proper healer who could look at his condition and give them what they needed to help him heal.

But in that moment, surrounded by his brothers and drowning in their love. The cold world around him finally began to melt.

He had found home.


End file.
